Coffee is hardly even a habit for me now. It's a necessity for existence. I'm only MOSTLY joking, too. I have a moderately addictive personality, so coffee has replaced my previous vices (Coca-Cola, cigarettes, sugar) and is the one food/ drink that is a constant in my life, except water - which I drink litres and litres of a day.

Hey, a suggestion for those of you that live with others and don't have as much control over your diet as you'd prefer! When I was living with my Aunt and she'd make dinner, invariably filled with much cheese and simple carbs, I'd take small portions of her cooking and make the largest portion on my plate a big swath of salad greens. If you can talk your families into at least keeping a big bin of salad greens on hand, it helps A LOT with the eating more healthily.

Well, the usual has happened... was being incredibly careful, taking things steady, sticking to the running programme even though it's been really hard to fit in, then on Tuesday I ran a mile for the train in boots and a rucksack, ironically so I could get back in time to go running before I picked my daughter up from Guides, and gave myself shin splints. Gah blah bollocks feck. I am a stupid bastard sometimes.

Losing ground to laziness and over eating. When I interact socially it takes a lot out of me and I have no willpower or energy left at the end. I'll be presented with the choice of going to the gym or going out to eat and eating sounds fabulous. And then I won't stop eating (and drinking) till IT'S ALL GONE. *sigh* I used to be better at restraint too. But I need to pick up and try, try again, as they say.

Side note: It's a little annoying to try to put things into myFitnessPal that didn't come from a box or can. Homemade stuff means I have to put in each ingredient separately because who knows how someone makes their "homemade" chicken stir fry or beef and chili. And it gets even harder when I go out to eat because a. I have to remember every last thing I ate there and I'm almost always eating communally, ie sharing food, and b. the places I go never have their nutritional details online - only major chains do. So it's frustrating that it's easy to track nutrition only if I eat everything I've been told to avoid (prepackaged meals, fast food, mega chain restaurants).

@JP }:< Try to take care of yourself. Be nice to your body while it heals and it'll be nice to you when you're up & about.

Coming in late to this thread here. Guys, I could really use some advice. It seems I went over a kind of event horizon around Christmas.

I'm a pretty solid guy to begin with, carrying 77kg even when I was 21, chucking myself off speakers at gigs every night and waging the war against sleep with speed on the halfshell. As a reasonably fit 35 year old, cycling to work every day, I was 95kg. Since leaving work to become a full time Dad and part time artist in 2007, and the same year being prescribed SSRIs for what appeared to be depression (but later turned out to be bipolar) I've blown up to 130. I'm vast. Morbidly obese. At 42, that's a big red heart attack flag right there.

Then before Christmas, my back went. Not a full prolapse but a couple of disc bulges and compression of the sciatic nerve, meaning I'm in constant pain, sleeping badly and unable to walk for long without a cane. The doc reckons it'll heal up eventually but it's February and I'm still sitting here.

I have no money. None. Joining a gym would not be an option even if I could stand up for long periods. Swimming is fine up to the point where I actually try to use my legs, when my back locks up and I have a bit of an interesting time getting back out of the pool. There are no free yoga or anything-else classes around here.

There's not really anything wrong with my diet - I cook for the family and I buy most of the ingredients fresh at Flemington Markets or pick them out of the garden. We eat a lot of vegetables and some fruit. Meat about 3 nights a week. Eggs from the chickens in the yard. Wholemeal bread, for me one slice with a poached egg and some beans for breakfast. No breakfast cereal or processed food at all really. My wife and 14 year old son eat significantly more than me and stay skinny. I drink soda water and maybe 2 cups of tea per day, a glass or two of wine a couple of nights a week.

Part of what happened was a side effect of the SSRI. I'm on an almost homeopathic dose of the stuff now so I don't think that will stay a factor. The other part was simply ceasing to move at all, ever.

In the morning, I get up. Make breakfast and pack lunches for family. Drive kids to school. Drive self to studio. Sit at computer or potter between printers for four or five hours. Drive to pick the kids up. Go home, make dinner, wash up, read for a while and go to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat.

So this became a feedback loop and now I'm injured and seemingly unable to break out of it. I could really use some ideas.

I would suggest getting one of those calorie counters the others have been using, just to make sure there aren't massive calories in something you haven't considered. Also, how is your sleep? Lack of adequate sleep can pack on the pounds.

What Rach said. Whenever I've started to actually follow calories, there has always been a dozen "holy fuck I never realized that a portion of [healthy sounding food item X] has enough energy to drive a tank to Moscow". What I'd suggest is to try out one of those services mentioned here earlier and just brutally honestly write down everything you eat during the day. Especially in the beginning it's rather annoying, since it's hard to figure out the portion sized etc., but after a while you'll get the gist of it. I know from experience that it's pretty easy to overindulge upward of 500kcal while thinking you are eating sensibly.

@Kay If it's anything like what happened to me it's likely to be the ssris. I've found it a real struggle even to stay on an even keel with weight for the last decade, despite ruthless calorie counting over the last four years. On the occasions that I've come off them, weight has dropped off really quickly. I've found that I really have to count what I'm eating and stick to about 1500 kcals, and try and keep moving in some way to keep it at bay. I have to drink heroic doses of caffeine to balance the sedative effects.

Guess if you're on a low dose you might have a fighting chance now, but it's hard, can be soul destroying when all your efforts just keep you level rather than making progress, and if anyone has the answer to this I'd love to know.

FYI if any of you runners/walkers have problems with chaffing rashes (apparently it's more commonly known as Chub Rub?), I cannot reccomend this product enough.

I usually overdo it with walking and end up getting friction burns pretty bad. Like, to the point of drawing blood. Putting this stuff on at the start of the day prevents that. It also helps treat friction burns that already happened and brings down the inflammation. Odorless and oil-free. You rub it on like you would a stick of deodorant. Available in most sports stores (it's for runners).

@Rachæl, Vorn - my sleep is shit due to my back being out, and because summer. Summer in Sydney blows goats. Hot and greasy. Compensating with air conditioning and codeine tonight. Also, I will look into a calorie counter app. Thanks for the insights.

@JP - I'm on a tiny dose now but I get really WEIRD headspins and visual disturbances when I drop off it altogether. Seeing my doctor on Wednesday, hoping to get a substitute, or at least a lower dosage pill so I can ramp off. I'm feeling like an old man, walking on a cane, asking children to pick things up for me. This has got to end.

Kay, you have lots of options in terms of "not ever moving." I'm suffering from grad-school-itis right now. Try this, maybe: or watch youtube videos and the like. I personally would not want to join a class to work out, but if you have a basic routine that involves a few pushups and situps on the floor of your bedroom it can mean a lot. Get some workout apps (like Drop And Give Me Twenty).

Also, standing desk. STANDING DESK. Laptop on bookshelf. Even if long periods don't work, try to switch up your work routine for twenty minutes at a time. And there are lots of "office workouts" like the above yoga thing, that you can fit in while you're taking a brain-break.

@allana that's adorable. And breaks it down enough to make it look easy.

My personal schedule is killing me as I developed it to avoid people. Heavily nocturnal. But that messes with getting up first thing in the morning and going to the gym. Going at night, unless I shower at the gym - }:/ - means making a racket when I get home to shower. And I'm frequently terribly hungry again around 330. If I give in and have a sandwich then I go to bed an hour or two later...sooner than I should after the last time I ate. *sigh* I can't win.

I've been trying to be a little more diurnal again, but it's flippin tough when the house is so chaotic during the day. It's not uncommon to wake up to a shouting match first thing in the morning, sometimes around 9am, sometimes earlier. The second I can get back to sleep, I do, ignoring all that I could be doing.

I freaking at sleep. It gets in my way when I'm trying to get something done. No matter how nocturnal I am, it still knocks me out just before dawn and I can't get free very easily. Getting up with less than six hours of sleep is a lot harder than it used to be and I pretty much can't do it unless I must be somewhere by a specific time. Gah. Anyway, I want to fix this but it runs right into my fucked up life. The kiddo goes to bed at 9pm. She's up - or her alarm is, she can sleep through Armageddon - at 6am. I've woken her up plenty of times, thrown her out of bed and then I finally crawl under the covers. Christ.